Precipice by shadowsong26
Milestones: Chapter 7
The same place as last time turned out to be a tiny, arid moon, barely large enough for a dilapidated and disreputable trading post that consisted of little more than a cantina and a small spaceport. Rex had never been to this particular location, technically, but he'd spent plenty of time in places like it over the last thirteen years. He knew the type.
But, of course, that was a large part part of why Rex had insisted on backing General Kenobi up on this venture, and he was glad of it. Not that the Jedi couldn't take care of himself, but a place like this benefited from an extra pair of eyes. Especially if they came with weapons of their own. Besides, specifics of the location aside, Rex felt there was a limit far they could trust Ohnaka. And even that level of confidence didn't really apply to any place where the pirate was welcome, and absolutely did not apply to any of his associates.
And if there was another, less-important, reason...it was personal, and harder to name, even in the privacy of his own thoughts. But the truth of the matter was, the Crait base, even half-finished, was all at once familiar and strange. Sure, the layout wasn't exactly the same, but he'd still spent a good portion of his life in places like it, both in training and once he was placed on active duty. It was close enough to the places he'd grown up that it felt almost like a sort of homecoming-except that none of his brothers were there. And he kept turning corners, expecting to run into Cody, or Fives or Echo or any of the others he had lost or left behind. Being surrounded by a majority of non-identical faces instead was...it took some getting used to. And he wasn't quite there yet.
The worst of it was, the feeling had flat-out ambushed him, when he'd come to help oversee the last few steps necessary to make the place operational. Before, when the base was still just an unpopulated shell on the salt plain, it hadn't occurred to him that it would be a problem.
But it was.
So, he'd practically jumped at the chance to take an offsite mission for more than just to watch General Kenobi's back. It was probably better, anyway, until he sorted all of that out, to go off-base when he could, get a break from that tangle of who-the-kriff-knew what. Out here, at least he knew which of his ghosts would rise up to haunt him and had a decent handle on how to deal with it when they did.
And, as he'd hoped, just walking through this city, watching the people watching him, had already made him feel more secure. More than enough to turn his full attention to the task at hand.
He raised an eyebrow at a scrawny-looking local who seemed a little too interested in them as they entered the cantina; and the being backed down quickly enough. Probably just a petty thief, probably just hungry, but appearances could be deceiving.
"Trouble?" Kenobi asked.
"Probably not," Rex admitted. "Unless that was someone's lookout."
He nodded, and then they split up like they always did on missions like this-Rex went to snag a table where they could wait, while General Kenobi made conversation with the bartender. Partly for cover, and partly as a means to maybe tease (or flirt) a few supplementary details out of the locals before the mission really got underway. He was a hell of a lot better at that than Rex was.
And Rex, without having the Force to supplement and camouflage potential blind spots, would pick a better table that balanced their need for visual surveillance with their need to minimize being seen themselves.
Kenobi joined him after a few minutes, sliding a mug of whatever middling beer this place sold at him and resting a shot glass full of something violently purple on the table in front of himself.
"Any news?" Rex asked.
"Nothing of use to us," Kenobi replied. "At least not today. Though apparently another of my contacts has taken to using this cantina as a waypoint, so we may want to drop by again in future. You?"
He shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "Usual gambling, couple potential fistfights and at least one with knives just waiting to happen, but no one interested in us."
Kenobi nodded, and was about to say something else when the door swung open and their pirate sometimes-friend sauntered through.
Ohnaka's monkey-lizard chittered a little on his shoulder as the pirate scanned the bar. He spotted them and grinned, but headed first to the bar to get his own drink before joining them at last.
"Here we go," Rex said, under his breath.
"My friends!" Ohnaka said, sidling over to them and sprawling in the chair next to Kenobi, almost but not quite blocking Rex's view of the bar and setting his own drink down with a sharp, cheerful clink. The monkey-lizard chirped and scampered down his arm, disappearing into the crowd. Presumably picking every pocket within reach.
"Hondo," Kenobi said, raising his glass in a brief salute. "Always a pleasure to see you."
"Yes, yes, delighted," the pirate said, his eyes flickering over to Rex. "You even brought my favorite captain with you!"
Rex nodded in acknowledgement, keeping his face stony, trying not to give anything away.
It wasn't that he disliked Ohnaka, exactly. And the pirate had come through for them in the past, more than once. More often than he'd worked against them, come to think of it. Especially in the last decade.
Still, Rex wasn't sure how long that could last. And, all right, he was maybe still a little on edge from everything the Crait base had dredged up in him.
"Relax, relax, my friends," Ohnaka said. "This business that I have to propose should be very profitable for all of us. If you agree, of course."
Huh. He's getting to the point pretty quick. Which could be a trap, but Rex had the feeling that wasn't Ohnaka's style. If he wanted to lure them somewhere, he'd go on a tangent or three, tell a story that might or might not have been true. Build up to it a little more. So, there was a good chance that whatever Ohnaka had for them really was worth that much.
Didn't rule out a trap, of course, just not one Ohnaka had set himself. Something to keep in mind for later. Whether or not it was one they should avoid, on the other hand...
"Indeed," Kenobi said, with a faint smile. He didn't quite glance at Rex, but he was pretty sure the General had come to the same conclusion he had.
Conferring secretly in a crowded bar, when the party you wanted out of the loop was right in front of you, wasn't easy. But Rex and General Kenobi had their ways. Experience, as in all things, made all the difference.
Abort? he asked with a quick, discreet hand signal.
Not yet, Kenobi signaled back, before turning his full attention back to their contact. "So, my friend, what is it you have to offer?"
"I have recently gained access to fifty vials of bacta culture starters," the pirate said, taking a swig of his drink and setting it down for emphasis, and looking extremely pleased with himself.
And with damn good reason. A single vial, with the right equipment and enough time, could grow enough bacta for a good ten to fifteen tanks, depending on the strain. An opportunity like that was huge, whether you were in it for the money or because you had the beginnings for an army to supply. And Ohnaka, at least in theory, had fifty.
Profit for all of them, indeed.
On the other hand, involving a third party meant sharing the profits, which the pirate was practically allergic to.
"Why contact us?" Rex asked. "Pretty sure your crew could handle a pickup like this." Culture starters weren't particularly hard to transport, after all. They did need careful packing and a fair amount of insulation, but fifty vials still wouldn't take up any more space than two standard shipping containers. Relatively light ones, too.
Reaching out to them for added muscle made even less sense, frankly. Unless Ohnaka and his crew were at odds again, but Rex had a feeling there was something more to it than that. Vials like that, even on the legitimate market, cost a hell of a lot. Add a black-market markup…
"Yes, yes, in most cases," Ohnaka said. "But, sadly, not all of my friends are as trustworthy as you."
"And no one on your current crew has the skills or the tools necessary to determine whether or not the product is genuine," General Kenobi finished for him.
…yep, that would do it. Rex relaxed slightly. Not that he'd really thought Ohnaka was planning on doing something as stupid as trading General Kenobi's location to one of their enemies for the vials, but there were at least a dozen other ways he could screw them.
Beyond the usual trying to cheat them out of their share, of course, but that was just the cost of doing business with any underworld contact, and Ohnaka and General Kenobi had enough history that he kept it to a reasonable level with them. Or so Kenobi always insisted.
So, back to his initial assessment of the situation-with bait like this, chances were good they were walking into a trap, but there was probably an eighty to ninety percent chance that Ohnaka wasn't the one who'd set it.
And, assuming the vials were real…
If reliable intelligence was the most important thing an army needed, it was a tossup between medical and food supplies for the second most important thing. And of the two, meds were a hell of a lot harder to source. Especially in bulk. Especially in a form easy to transport as culture vials.
General Kenobi had always said that the best way to handle a trap was to spring it on your own terms. At least on this occasion, based on his own standards and risk-reward analysis, Rex had to agree.
"Such is my misfortune," the pirate said, with a theatrical sigh. "But, I think, a benefit for you."
"Hm," General Kenobi said, leaning back in his seat, considering. "Did your contact say who they stole it from?"
"One of the Hutt clans," Ohnaka said. "Or perhaps Black Sun. Rumor has it, they are planning an artificial bacta shortage in another sector, so they are stockpiling."
So, not an Imperial storehouse or a hospital. Good.
"All right," General Kenobi said, after a brief glance at Rex. "We're in."
"Wonderful!" Ohnaka said. "I knew you would not let me down. So! We go in, you confirm that it's genuine, I make the exchange, we get out, split the product. I think five vials for you, to compensate you for your time and trouble, and the rest for me."
"Well, that hardly seems fair," General Kenobi said, but there was an easiness to his tone that told Rex it wasn't unexpected, either.
Of course, that meant that now came the part that Rex didn't particularly enjoy; the part where the pirate inflated his price any way he possibly could. On the other hand, General Kenobi was probably enjoying himself, talking him down to a more reasonable split. He usually did.
"My friend, you wound me," Ohnaka said. "Is it not my information? My contact? You would not even be here if not for me!"
"And if not for me," General Kenobi said, "you would never know if you were walking away with something worth your time or not. I think an even split is perfectly reasonable, under these circumstances."
"Highway robbery!" the pirate exclaimed, throwing his hands up for emphasis. "You are not the only expert I can call, you know-"
"But you called me for a reason," Kenobi cut him off.
"Yes, yes, fine," Ohnaka said. "But I cannot- cannot -go higher than twelve."
"On the other hand," General Kenobi said, his tone still light and easy but there was a familiar, subtle edge underneath. "I will be taking on the greater risk here. If your contact happens to recognize me…"
Ohnaka's eyes narrowed. "You trust me so little?"
"You are not the problem."
There was a moment of tense, electric silence, and then the pirate sighed.
"Oh, very well," Ohnaka said. "Twenty to you, and thirty to me. And that is my final offer."
"Acceptable," Kenobi said, leaning back again with a faint smile.
"But you will owe me for this one," Ohnaka grumbled, but he didn't seem particularly upset, either. Not that Rex could tell, at least. "At least one favor. Possibly two."
"If the product is genuine," Kenobi replied. "If not, I think the attempt itself will make up for that incident last year in the Vega delta."
Not an adventure Rex had heard about in great detail, but he knew that it had irritated General Skywalker and amused Commander Tano, and involved Kenobi having to destroy his planned exit strategy and call on Ohnaka for an alternate route. Not the first time, and probably not the last.
"Deal," Ohnaka said. "We shall be taking my ship-I have access codes and a transponder my seller will be expecting. I would advise, my friends, that you take pains to secure your ship before we leave. There are so many unscrupulous people in this town."
"Naturally," General Kenobi said, finishing his drink in a single swallow. "Shall we meet at your ship in a half-hour?"
"Magnificent," Ohnaka said, and, not to be outdone, downed his much-larger drink in one go as well. He stood up, gave an extravagant, flourishing bow, and made his way towards the exit. His pet joined him halfway across the floor, leaping up to its place on his shoulder and depositing something Rex couldn't identify into one of the pirate's many pockets along the way.
Kenobi shook his head, smiling faintly. "He never changes."
"No," Rex agreed. "...you think he's figured it out?"
"I'd lay the odds on that as fairly high," he replied. "As to who the seller is…" He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Translation: bring as close to a full kit as you can, because this one's gonna get messy.
"Not that I'm saying we should," Rex said quietly, "but in the interests of covering all our bases, I should probably point out here that it's not too late to pull out."
"I wouldn't put it past the cleverer among Hondo's rivals to have at least some genuine vials mixed in with their bait," he said. "No. We should see this one through."
"Copy that, sir," Rex said, and finished the last of his surprisingly-not-awful drink. "I'll go ahead and gear up, then."
"Indeed," he said, and rose to follow Rex out of the cantina and back to the ship. General Kenobi had less equipment to gather up, so he'd take care of updating Crait and setting a few extra traps for any would-be thieves.
Not that they'd left their ship entirely undefended the first time, of course, but security for a meeting and security for a probably day-long mission were two entirely different things.
Rex spared one last moment to take a quick, surreptitious look around the place on their way out-but no more signs of trouble than when they'd walked in.
We've had worse starts to missions, he told himself. Here's hoping that our luck holds out.
Original Author's Notes: And now, several chapters later, we finally touch base with Obi-Wan and Rex again, hurray! Per Legends canon, bacta is actually some kind of bacteria or algae or something? I've read some cool meta about it, at least...anyway, this is me extrapolating from that fact, but isn't that what SW fanfic is for? ^_^
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hopefully the next chapter will come out in a slightly more timely fashion, lol... ~shadowsong